Desert Preserve and Event Space in Tucson Arizona.

Our Board of Directors

President

Ian Boelts

Ian was born in Tucson and raised in Oro Valley, Arizona. He grew up exploring the Sonoran desert and fostered a love for nature at an early age. After having graduated high school from Ironwood Ridge in 2011, he moved to Boston to receive his Bachelors degree in Music Business and Management from the prestigious Berklee College of Music. In 2015, after an internship in North Hollywood to finish out his degree, he made his way back to Tucson where he is currently working to advance his career while also serving as President of All Creeds Brotherhood.

Director

Rev. Don Chatfield, Ph.D.

Don is an interfaith minister who serves as executive director at the Osage Forest of Peace, a retreat center near Tulsa. Don fell in love with Sanctuary Cove during the 28 years he lived in Tucson. During his time in Arizona, he served as the Community Development Director for the Town of Oro Valley, the Chief Operating Officer at the Sonoran Institute, and Executive Director of The Primavera Foundation. Don is a member of the Advisory Council of the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles, a member of the board of directors of the Sand Springs, Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Sand Springs Economic Development Authority.

Director

Craig LeCroy

Craig is a professor in the School of Social Work with Arizona State University’s Tucson campus. He actively supports various environmental groups including the Nature Conservatory and the Arizona Water and Land Trust.

Director

E. Hardy Smith is a Tucson lawyer and mediator who, for three decades, has lived and raised his family in the shadow of Safford Peak as a neighbor of Sanctuary Cove. In that time, he has seen many changes to the surrounding community and difficult challenges to maintaining the beauty and tranquility of the Cove and its environs, including Saguaro National Park. Hardy joined the Board to help preserve the Cove as “a still place in a turning world” for future generations of his family and the community.

Secretary

Mark and his wife moved to the Tucson area from New Jersey at the end of 2015 following a 29-year-career as a news executive with The Associated Press and before that as editor of an award-winning newspaper in Iowa. They fell in love with Sanctuary Cove while attending an Easter sunrise service and became members. Mark was elected to serve on the board of the non-profit that owns and operates the retreat. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa and received post-graduate education in nonprofit management and fundraising from New York University. He served nearly 10 years as executive director of an association of U.S. newspaper and online editors and its fundraising arm.

Director

Jackson Boelts has been an artist, educator, designer for over 30 years and in that time he has won over 400 awards for his work. He has exhibited work in Moscow, Mexico City, Berlin, Warszawa, Chile, and numerous locations nationally. He is a Professor of Art at the University of Arizona, he has been a Visiting Artist at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and has taught watercolor and drawing in Orvieto, Italy.